Cognition Dissemination: Do Young People Really Not Like Turn-Based Games?

It was made clear right from the first trailer that Final Fantasy XVI will be another action-based installment, to what should have been little surprise. The mainline numbered Final Fantasy titles haven’t been entirely turn-based since Final Fantasy X-2, after which the games became progressively more action based before embracing it entirely as of Final Fantasy XV. (Lightning Returns and Crisis Core were the most bizarre action/turn-based hybrids in the series, though the latter looks to embrace action further in the remake/remaster.) Now, XVI looks to be the most action-packed yet, with gameplay styles that wouldn’t look out of place in a Devil May Cry or Dragon’s Dogma game, another non-surprise considering action director Ryota Suzuki worked on both of those franchises.

Why action, though? Producer Naoki Yoshida explained the reasons in the latest issue of Japan’s Famitsu magazine, as translated by VideoGamesChronicle. “For the past decade or so, I’ve seen quite a number of opinions saying ‘I don’t understand the attraction of selecting commands in video games’,” Yoshida said. “This opinion is only increasing, particularly with younger audiences who do not typically play RPGs.” Yoshida implied that advancements in technology have made it easier for action-based RPGs to thrive, where pressing a button can result in the character executing an action instead of doing so through command menus. It’s not that action RPGs didn’t previously exist and coexist with turn-based RPGs, but it’s become easier for gaming platforms to handle characters and parties fighting multiple enemies simultaneously in titles in the genre.

It’s certainly possible that the younger generation likes action RPGs more than turn-based ones. But do Square Enix and the FFXVI team know that for sure? That’s difficult to tell, and it’s almost impossible to determine this with any kind of empirical data considering how much work would be required to poll an adequate sample of young people.

There is, however, enough evidence to suggest that kids still play turn-based RPGs. The Pokémon games are the biggest example, with installments in the series still putting up superlative numbers. I’m well aware of the meme about who’s really playing Pokémon games, and there’s some truth to it, but plenty of kids still play and enjoy the titles even they’re not the most vocal and extremely online set. They, from what I’ve seen, haven’t made a big deal about these games remaining turn-based. The Persona games are primarily aimed towards Japanese teenagers, but remain popular, though anecdotal evidence suggests that it’s mostly adults playing the franchise in western territories. Still, Persona 5 in particular was a big hit.

Square Enix’s development teams, however, seem dead set on insisting that young people want direct action, but there might be an easier explanation for this. The company released World of Final Fantasy in 2016, with the younger protagonists and monster raising indicating how it was laser targeted the younger audience. The game included the Active Time Battle system for its battles, the largely turn-based system most notably found in Final Fantasys IV–IX and X-2. The game, from the few public indications around, underperformed.

It could have been due to young people not wanting the turn-based battles, but I’m willing to bet the initial platform choices of PlayStation 4 and Vita when younger audiences were on Nintendo and mobile platforms and the game releasing a mere month before FFXV didn’t help. By the time the game was ported to Xbox One, Switch, and Steam, it was too late. (Late ports rarely perform as well as the original releases.) Square Enix took the online complaints about the game not having combat like Kingdom Hearts to, well, heart, considering both games had human designs from Tetsuya Nomura. They seem to know what Gen Z likes now.

(To a lesser extent: This could also explain why Dragon Quest Treasures has action-based combat, contrary to the Dragon Quest Monsters games this title is a spiritual successor to, which included the same turn-based combat the single-player numbered titles had.)

This is also an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the biggest western RPGs worldwide, like Bioware’s Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises and CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher series. All those games feature real-time combat combined with RPG mechanics. It’s not like titles such as FFXV and Final Fantasy VII Remake were penalized sales-wise for embracing action combat, after all. If the willpower is there, and all indications suggest it is, it makes sense to further embrace the action combat.

That said, this is yet another opportunity where I think it would be a great idea on Square Enix’s part to make another turn-based FF game that utilizes the ATB, for old folks like me who remember them fondly. It would be fine if this title had a lower budget, using polygons that aren’t as detailed as those found in the upcoming FFXVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth or even the HD-2D style used by Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, and the soon-to-release Live A Live remake. Reviving the idea of having a series of throwback games from around the time FFIX released would be nice too. I’m sounding like a broken record here, but that’s fine.

There’s still a haze over precisely what FFXVI’s combat will entail, relating to just how action-packed it will be, how useful the AI-controlled party members will be, and whether those other characters will be present for most of the game. But we’ve seen enough to know how far removed it will be from the classic turn-based titles. New FF games are always aimed towards younger audiences, and it’s too much to expect franchises to age with the audience. But more options won’t hurt.